Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

#11

Post by Mountain_Skies »

I've had a washlet for a decade and absolutely am glad I spent what seemed like a scandalous amount of money at the time. Despite the built in dryer, paper is still required to get truly dry but other than that, it's great.

The article is a bit weird. The author starts off with a seemingly disconnected claim about prejudice that she never really is able to support except through rather weak conjecture. The whole thing reads like she needed to meet an identity politic quota and was working backwards to make it happen.

This finally ends with a pitch for a particular company's bidet toilet seat attachment. There are countless companies selling these on Amazon and elsewhere so it's a bit strange that this one company's offer is treated as something revolutionary and unique. Does The Atlantic get a cut of sales they send that way?

Re: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

#14

Post by sfeng »

I’ve shifted from the cheap bidet attachments on Amazon to the $300 Toto which includes both heated seat and water. It’s phenomenal, to the point that I added two new electrical outlets to my house to accommodate them.

Particularly with the toilet paper ‘shortage’ it’s wild to me that so many people still waste their time and money using paper.

Re: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

#15

Post by SubiculumCode »

mikeodds wrote: post #6
bcardarella wrote: post #2

I bought a Genie Bidet at the beginning of the pandemic due to the toilet paper shortage. Never shit without one now. Doesn't save toilet paper but the idea of a dry wipe is for the savages.

This. It’s strange to me that US culture places importance in frequently washing hair, hands, etc. However potentially smearing faeces over part of your body and sitting with it festering there for 12 hours or until your next shower is completely acceptable.

How do such bidets work in public bathrooms? Most public bathrooms, the only thing I reasonably trust to be clean is the toilet paper. Doesn't the bidet get exposed to there people's excrement, raising the chance of passing that exposure onto the next user of the stall? Genuinely curious.

Re: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

#18

Post by dleslie »

slver wrote: post #13

I legit heard multiple Americans discuss it dismissively like it's a toilet dildo for homosexuals. Even the fact it's a French word was a proof of that.

I can attest to this. When I've mentioned owning own I've had a couple of folks snear upon it as though I've affixed a dildo to my toilet seat. The idea that it might be at all pleasurable is grotesque to them - I wonder if they usecheap single ply?

Re: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

#20

Post by sneak »

bcardarella wrote: post #2

I bought a Genie Bidet at the beginning of the pandemic due to the toilet paper shortage. Never shit without one now. Doesn't save toilet paper but the idea of a dry wipe is for the savages.

I don't use toilet paper at all any longer, haven't bought or used a single square the entire pandemic.

Then again, the RH here is usually around 25%.

Post reply on HN